Tejpal's filmmaker daughter adapting Kushwant's novel

PTI, PANAJI | 24 November 2014 23:18 IST

Journalist Tarun Tejpal's filmmaker daughter Tiya and her cousin Karan are paying tribute to their late grandmother through an upcoming project, which is an adaptation of Khushwant Singh's novel The Sunset Club.

Their grandmother Shakuntala passed away in May this year in Goa due to cancer. After her death, the Tehelka founder/editor Tarun, who was in jail for alleged rape charges, was let out on bail.

"Our film is currently at the scripting stage. We have just kept the central characters intact and have changed rest of the part. The film is an ode to our grandmother, who passed away this year in Goa. We are here looking for producer for our film," Tiya, who worked as a production designer in Ang Lee's Life of Pi, said on the sidelines of NFDC's film bazaar.

The Delhi-set novel of the late author is the tale of a 60-year-old friendship among three 80-year-old people of different religious backgrounds. Tiya said both she and her cousin were very close to their grandmother and her death was shocking.

"We were very close to our grandmother. We observed how she became a child again during her 80s. The things which she used to do for us, we started to do for her," she said.

When asked if they had zeroed-in on any actors for the film, Tiya said: "Since the age of our central characters are very high, there are very few actors in Bollywood and theatre background left for the film. We can't name them as of now because we are still negotiating with them."

Tiya had been with her father during his difficult times and said that he always encourages her to follow her dreams of filmmaking.

"We turn to him all the time," she said. The filmmaker duo has bought the adaptation rights from Singh's family and said that they had no problem with thei novel getting big screen treatment. As the novel is set in Delhi, the young filmmakers are also planning to shoot the film in the Capital.